Amenities major factor in casino market, study says

Gambling may not be the only thing drawing people to casinos.

Visitors to casinos over the past several years have been spending less on gambling and more on other entertainment amenities, according to a new report from the UMass Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis.

Visitors to casinos over the past several years have been spending less on gambling and more on other entertainment amenities, according to a new report from the UMass Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis.

“The casino industry as a whole continues to implement strategies aimed at expanding non-gaming amenities and relying less on gambling dollars,” the authors of the report state. “This trend is reflected in the New England gaming market, where a declining percentage of visitors to Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Twin River, and to a lesser extent Newport Grand report they gambled at these facilities in the last 12 months.”

The report, titled “Bring It On Home: An Overview of Gaming Behavior in New England”, was released Monday and details the results of the center’s fourth biennial New England Gaming Behavior Survey, which collected data from 3,035 respondents in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

Another major conclusion in the report is that Massachusetts residents are a major force driving both a decrease in attendance at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods and an increase in attendance at Twin River.

Overall, 52 percent of respondents indicated that they participated in some form of legal gambling over the past year, down from 59 percent in 2006. Casino gambling was the third most popular, behind lottery games and scratch tickets.

From 2006-12, the percentage of visitors who gambled at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun declined by 17 percentage points, while the number who spent money on food and drinks increased by 21 percentage points.

The New England casino market is poised to change significantly.

Massachusetts, which is in the process of licensing up to three resort casinos and one slots parlor statewide, has put an emphasis on casino projects that contain an array of amenities, such as restaurants and entertainment venues.

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which is pursuing a tribal casino in Taunton, also has an eye on including non-gambling attractions. The tribe’s casino plans call for a hotel, indoor water park and other amenities.

Raynham Park owner George Carney, who is partnering with Pennsylvania-based Parx Casino in a bid to open a slots parlor, has said he’s considering non-gambling amenities such as a bowling alley and restaurants.

The report also includes data suggesting the differences between patrons of resort casinos and slots parlors. Among respondents, 78 percent of visitors to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun did not visit Twin River of Newport Grand.

Nearly three-quarters of Foxwoods patrons and more than two-thirds of Mohegan Sun patrons surveyed said they traveled more than an hour to reach the casino.

Among respondents who had visited Twin River, 89 percent said they traveled less than an hour and 68 percent reported driving 30 minutes or less. The figures were similar for Newport Grand.

Page 2 of 2 - “The availability of table games, numerous non-gambling amenities, the physical attractiveness of the facilities and the general atmosphere of the facilities continue to differentiate New England’s resort casino market from the convenience gambling market,” the report states.

The analysis also examines attendance trends. The number of respondents visiting Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun each declined by 22 percent from 2008 to 2012, while Twin River saw a 24 percent increase over the same period.

“Twin River in Lincoln, Rhode Island, which underwent a major expansion in 2007 and is the 5th largest slots facility in the country, appears to be siphoning off some of Foxwoods’ customers, particularly those from Rhode Island and Massachusetts,” the report states.

Massachusetts residents, the report states, account for 66 percent of the decline in visitors to Foxwoods and 28 percent of the decline in visitors to Mohegan Sun between 2008 and 2012. Conversely, business from Bay Staters, the analysis states, is the major force fueling attendance increases at Twin River.